Improvement in children s carriages



G. E. PHELPS. Children's Carriages.

No. 206,038. Patented July 16, I878.

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2 G. E. PHELPS. Children's Carriages No. 206,038.Patented lu|y16,1878.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

GEORGE E. PHELPS, OF APPLETON, 'ISCONSIN.

IMPROVEMENT IN CHILDRENS CARRIAGES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 206,038, dated July 16,1878; application filed April 10, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. PHELPS, of Appleton, in the county ofOutagamie and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Childrens Carriages; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and toletters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

My invention relates to improvements in childrens or invalids carriages,850.; and consists in a novel construction and arrangement of parts, bywhich the forward axle can be turned around its transom-bolt,fifth-wheel, or vertical pivot by means of the rear handle, on which theoperator pushes to propel the carriage forward. By this arrangement acarriage of this kind can easily be operated from behind, so as to swingor turn it to the right or left without raising the front wheels abovethe ground, and this can be done with one hand only on the handle,leaving the operator free to use the other hand in carrying packages orotherwise, as is oftentimes required.

In the ordinary childrens carriages the objection is found that the twoshafts are not located parallel with each other, which compels theperson propelling such a carriage to push it apparently to one side orthe other to make it go straight forward, and to do this requiresusually both of the persons hands. This is a great disadvantage, and isentirely overcome by my invention, which is simply arranged so that itcan be guided, pushedfand turned in any desired direction with greatease and facility.

The handle and rod by which the carriage is pushed and guided are madeso that they can easilybe changed from the rear to the front of thecarriage, if it is desired to have a change, so as to pull the vehicleinstead of pushing it from behind.

The invention is carried out as follows The forward axle is free to turnaround a bolt or pivot, and to said axle is jointed a pair of rodsextending to the rear below the body of the carriage, which rods areconnected together behind the rear axle by means of a short crossbar orlink, provided with a pair of holes, into which the lower forked ends ofthe handle are inserted when the carriage is to be pushed and guidedfrom behind.

The shank of the handle is provided with an annular groove, that isinserted into a stationary bearing secured in a suitable manner to therear part of the carriage-frame. This bearing, whereit encircles thegrooved part of the shank of the handle, may be made as an ordinaryfork, having perforations through which a suitable looking-pin isinserted to keep the handle in place during its operation, although Iprefer to make such bearing in two parts, hinged together at the rear,and provided with a suitable spring bolt or look, or other simplefastening, by which the shank of the handle can easily be inserted insaid hearing and locked, so as to allow it to turn freely therein.

The small cross-bar or link that unites the parallel rods below thecarriage-body may be dispensed with, and the forked ends of the lowerpart of the handle inserted directly into the perforations made in therear ends of the parallel rods without departing from the spirit of myinvention. The said parallel rods are guided on the rear axle, which isdone by providing such rods at or about this place with slottedopenings, through which a set-screw is screwed into the axle, passingloosely through each slotted opening in each of the parallel rods; or,what is the same, each rod may be allowed to move loosely through an eyeor loop attached or made in one piece with the rear axle.

To the forward axle is secured a similar bearing for the handle like theone previously described at the rear, which bearing may be hinged ornot, at pleasure, to the forward axle, and it is furthermore providedwith two perforations in its lower end for the insertion of the lowerends of the forked handle.

By this arrangement it will be seen that the handle can easily bedetached from the rear bearing and attached to the front one when it isdesired to pull the carriage from the front.

0n the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of acarriage provided with my improvement. Fig. 2 represents a plan view,the body of the carriage bein g removed. Fig. 3 represents a perspectiveview of the running-gear. Fig. 4 represents a perspective view of thelocking device for the bearing; and Fig. 5 represents an enlarged sideview of the grooved shank of the handle.

Similar letters refer to similar parts wherever they occur on thediti'erent parts of the drawings.

a is thebody of the carriage, attached to the rear axle b and frame 0 e.(I is the forward axle, that is allowed to swing freely around the pinor bolt 0. ff are the forward wheels, and g g are the rear wheels. I: hare the parallel rods, hinged in their forward ends to the movable frontaxle (I, and jointed to the rear axle I), being, for this purpose,provided with slots h h, through which the setscrews h h are inserted,and secured to the rear axle I). As an equivalent for said slots andsetscrews the said parallel rods may slide within staples or eyesattached to said rear axle.

The extreme rear ends of the parallel rods h h are provided withperforations h h, to which is connected the link or cross-bar I,provided with perforations, into which the lower projecting forked ends111 m of the handle m are inserted when the carriage is to be guided andpushed from behind. n is the stationary bearing for the handle m, whichbearing is secured to the frame 0, and where it encircles the handle mit may be forked, as shown at n in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, and provided witha locking-pin, h; but for better class of work I prefer to make suchhearing as shown in Fig. 4, where o is the hinge, 0 the hinged half, and0 an ordinary spring-bolt fitting into a recess, 0, on the part 0, whenthe bearing is in its locked position around the grooved place p on thehandle m, as shown in Fig. 5.

q represents the front hearing, with its lower perforations q q for theinsertion of the handle and its lower forked ends when it is desired topull and guide the carriage from the front.

The said front bearing q may be hinged to the front axle, as shown inthe drawings, or permanently secured thereto, if desired.

The dotted lines M show the position of the handle locked to the frontbearing qq' q when the carriage is to be drawn from the front end.

What I wish to secure by Letters Patent and claim is-- 1. In combinationwith the stationary rear axle b and the movable front axle d, asdescribed, the parallel rods h h, jointed to the front axle d, andsliding upon the rear axle b, the connecting-link l, forked handle mm m,and the bearing n n n or its equivalent, as and for the purpose setforth.

2. In combination with the stationary rear axle b and the movable frontaxle d, parallel rods h h, detachable forked handle in m m, and thefront bearing q q q, as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own invention Ihave'aflixed my signature in presence of two witneses.

GEORGE E. PHELPS.

\Vitnesses:

W. W. IIUrcHINsoN, UHAs. S. PHELPS.

